Compensating victims of armed conflict : evidence from the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of inter-state cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights in the context of armed conflict and the ways in which the Court has dealt with the compensation of victims. Although the Court awarded substantial sums of damages, the chapter questions whether the Court is able to address the broader background of cases situated in armed conflict, especially regarding the discrimination of ethnic groups. The cases Cyprus v. Turkey and Georgia v. Russia (I) highlight the Court's struggle with the broader implications of cases dealing with armed conflict as it decided that a separate finding on discrimination was unnecessary. This point is of present-day significance: With the cases on the armed conflicts in Georgia, Eastern Ukraine and Crimea still pending, it remains to be seen which stance the Court will take on compensating affected ethnic groups in these cases.